


Audience Participation

by queenofthepuddingbrains



Category: Captain America (Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Age of Ultron missing scene, Gen, M/M, Sam worries about Steve, spoilers for Age of Ultron
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-02
Updated: 2015-05-02
Packaged: 2018-03-26 18:27:05
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,976
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3860110
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/queenofthepuddingbrains/pseuds/queenofthepuddingbrains
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sam laughed.  “Steve.  You guys just got done raiding a HYDRA castle, guarded by people with super powers, all to re-capture an alien scepter.”  He quirked a wry smile in Steve’s direction.  “At this point, I don’t really think it’s possible for anything more exciting to happen.”</p>
<p>While Steve and the rest of the Avengers fought to stop Ultron, Sam was stuck watching it all unfold second-hand.  He wasn't a fan.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Audience Participation

**Author's Note:**

> My take on what might have been going on in Sam's mind during the events of AoU.  
> Contains spoilers for "Avengers: Age of Ultron"
> 
> Many thanks to [enigma731](http://archiveofourown.org/users/enigma731/) for the encouragement and beta.

 

Sam shrugged his jacket on, smiling at the crowd around him.  His smile only widened when he saw Steve making his way towards him across the atrium of the Tower.

“Heading out?” Steve asked, a touch of something like disappointment in his voice.

“Yeah.” Sam answered.  “I have an early flight out to Ecuador in the morning.” He paused for a secondly, discretely looking around before continuing. “You know, to check out that possible lead on our missing person.”

“No, I remember.” Steve’s voice was all gratitude now. 

“Thanks for the invite, though.”  Sam gestured widely at the opulent scene around them—Rhodey still holding court over by the sofas, Thor laughing warmly with his newfound Midgardian brothers-in-arms, Natasha and Dr. Banner speaking quietly together in the corner—“This was fun.  _Crazy_ , but fun.”

“Well,” Steve said slowly, smiling and ducking his head a bit shyly.  “I’m glad you were able to come.  Wouldn’t have been a proper revel without you.  Sorry you have to leave early. But”—here Steve looked around the room, noticing several groups of guests now heading for the exit—“it looks like the party’s starting to break up anyway.  I doubt you’ll miss anything exciting.”

Sam laughed.  “Steve.  You guys _just_ got done raiding a HYDRA castle, guarded by people with super powers, all to re-capture an alien scepter.”  He quirked a wry smile in Steve’s direction.  “At this point, I don’t really think it’s possible for anything more exciting to happen.”

Steve nodded his head to acknowledge the point.  “Let’s hope.  Walk you out?” 

Sam smiled in agreement, shoulder bumping companionably against Steve’s as they fell into step together.

 

* * *

  

“Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait!”  Sam squawked into his phone, voice echoing across Gate 2F of the JFK airport and drawing glares from the others waiting to board their flight.  “ _What_ happened after I left?”

Sam’s face clouded as he listened to Steve’s answer.  “Tony built a _what_?”

A hand came up to massage his forehead, where he was rapidly developing a headache.

“Okay, sure, because _that_ makes a whole lotta sense.  You’re okay though, right?”

Sam waited a tense moment for Steve’s confirmation, letting out a relieved sigh when it came.

“Good.  So, what now?  Should I scrap the trip to Ecuador?  I could head back to the Tower and lend a hand.”

Sam held his phone closer to his head, keeping a hand against his other ear to hear Steve’s answer over the boarding announcement now being made for his flight.

“Alright, if you’re sure you guys are good.  The flight’s boarding now, so I should be on the ground again in a little over ten hours.  I’ll check in with you again then, provided Tony’s project hasn’t wiped us all out with an army of robots by then.”

Sam’s grin slipped off his face as Steve responded to that.  “Well, damn.”

But then the smile returned.  “Whoops!  Sorry, Steve.  I’ll watch my tongue.”

Sam laughed brightly at the comeback that earned him before hanging up the phone, hoisting his bag over his shoulder, and heading for the jet bridge.

 

* * *

  

Sam yawned widely as he exited the plane.  It felt good to have some space to stretch, and he made the most of it, raising his arms high above his head to try and work the kinks out of his back.

Making his way across the terminal, Sam was surprised to see large groups of people gathered around the televisions in the waiting areas.  In his experience, people waiting at the airport tended to focus on their tablets or Sudoku books, rather than the news.   But almost as soon as the thought crossed his mind, Sam remembered his conversation with Steve about Ultron.

Worried now that a criss had broken out, Sammoved closer to get a better look.His mouth all but dropped open at what he saw—the Hulk was pulverizing a town in Africa.  And Tony— _What was that?  An Iron Man suit_ within _an Iron Man suit_?—was doing just as much damage trying to stop him.

Forcing himself to look away from the destruction, Sam scrambled in his pocket for his phone.  Switching it out of plane mood, he saw that he had one missed call from Steve, but no message.  Sam tried to call him back but, to absolutely no surprise, it went straight to voicemail.

Calls to Natasha, Tony, and even Fury went much the same.  Sam heaved a sigh of frustration, shoving his phone back into his pocket.

On the television, Tony had finally managed to beat the Hulk into unconsciousness, as near as he could tell from the grainy helicopter footage being streamed from a distance.

One thing was certain:  Sam wasn’t going to do anyone any good standing around an airport terminal.  Narrowing his eyes in determination, Sam squared his shoulders and strode away from the crowds still staring at the televisions, pushing his way through the people  and out to a taxi.

 

* * *

  

Sam sighed, throwing himself onto the motel room bed in frustration.  No one, at least none of his contacts, had any information on the Avengers.  It seemed like they had just fallen off the face of the planet after the disaster with the Hulk.  Steve still hadn’t contacted him.  If Sam had any credible idea where they might be holed up, he would try and find a way out of Central America to go and offer his help—whether Steve wanted it or not. 

But he didn’t have any ideas.  So, the best course was probably to stick to the plan he had.  Unfortunately, that wasn’t going much better.  It looked like his trip here was going to be just another in a long line of leads on Bucky that had run cold.

Sam sighed again, letting himself fall back onto the mattress and close his eyes.  He bolted upright the next moment though, the television he’d had on for background noise immediately catching his attention with the words “Captain America.”

The national news had apparently picked up a video feed from Seoul, patching it in just in time for Sam to get a good view of Steve hanging off of the back of a semi truck.  In the next moment, Steve was _on top_ of the semi, grappling with a— _was that a seven foot tall robot?_

Sam watched, hands clenching into fists at his side.  He nearly put an arm through the television when Steve dropped his shield.  And, nonsensical, as it was, he couldn’t seem to stop himself from yelling at Steve, as if he might be able to hear him through the screen.

“What exactly was the plan there, Steve?”

“Are you…are you trying strangle a _robot_?  How does that make sense?  And, better question”—here Sam titled his head to get a better look at the picture—“why is it working?”

When Natasha suddenly appeared, throwing Steve’s shield back to him, Sam’s triumphant shout could be heard three floors below:  “Atta girl, Nat!  That’s right, Mr. Roboto; she’s with us!”

Of course, then there was that whole thing with the train—“Seriously, man, how do you _always_ find a way to get thrown into one of those things?”

Bottom line:  By the time the news footage showed Steve wandering off, probably to look for some other clever way to get himself killed, having apparently just adopted two Enhanced, Sam decided it was time for him to investigate the mini bar.

 

* * *

 

So, maybe the mini bar wasn’t the _best_ of ideas.  Sam didn’t feel like he’d had too much, but that had to be the only logical explanation for what he was seeing.

Sam pushed the palms of his hands into his eyes hard enough to see stars.  But, when his vision cleared, the picture on the television hadn’t changed.

“Okay then.  So the city is flying.  That’s a flying city.  The entire city is in the air.  Because it is flying.  Because that’s the sort of thing that happens now.”

Sam’s eyes were riveted to the television screen.  Like the footage of the Hulk earlier, the quality of the feed wasn’t great.  And the city— _the flying city, holy crap!_ —was climbing higher every second.  Sam knew that it would be out of view of the camera in a few minutes. 

He also knew that Steve was up there.  Trying to stop whatever the hell was happening here from actually happening.  It looked like it wasn’t really going their way.

“You better not be thinking what I think you’re thinking, Cap.”  Sam meant it as a threat, but it came out as more of a plea.  “You don’t have to go down with this one too.”

Sam continued to sit, unblinking, as the ever smaller dot that was Sokovia faded from view.  Even then, he continued to watch.  He wasn’t really expecting to see anything, so he was more than a little surprised to have his attention drawn by something else rising through the air.

For the first time in nearly half an hour, Sam blinked.  Again, he rubbed his eyes to be sure they weren’t playing tricks on him. 

And then he started to grin.

A helicarrier was steadily climbing, following Sokovia into the clouds.  Sam watched it go.  And, unlike a year ago, he found himself praying that _nothing_ would be able to bring it down.

 

* * *

 

Sam relaxed onto his couch, happy to be home.  He’d be thrilled not to see another airport for at least a month. 

The sounds of “Trouble Man” echoing from his phone made Sam smile.  As he accepted the call, the smile slid into a smirk.

“So, you didn’t manage to get yourself killed after all?  Sorry to hear that—you sure seemed to be giving it your best shot.”  Sam’s voice held teasing, but there was a note of real admonition there as well.

Steve’s voice was sheepish on the other end of the line.  “I know it probably looked like that, down on the ground.  But I’m plenty happy living to fight another day.  I promise.”

Sam scoffed.  “Well, I believe the wanting to fight another day bit, at any rate.”

“You are going to be okay though, right?” he asked with a gentler voice.  “Your text earlier wasn’t exactly descriptive.”

“I didn’t exactly have time to write a treatise on the subject, Sam.”

“What, just because of stopping one measly city from crashing into the ground and wiping out all life on earth?” Sam teased.  “Getting a little worn out in your old age?”

“Oh, very clever,” Steve responded sarcastically.  “And so original too.”

Sam laughed, but then sobered.  “I’m serious, Steve.  How are you?”

Steve was quiet for a long moment.  “I’m alright, I think.  This mission, it got pretty rough; not gonna lie.  And my head got turned around a little.  But it’s starting to clear.”

“So you’re going to be okay?” Sam pressed.

“Yeah, I really think so,” Steve’s reply was cautious, but hopeful.  “Especially if I can convince you to make a trip to upstate New York.”

“What’s in upstate New York?” Sam wondered.

“Well,” Steve cleared his throat almost nervously, “that depends on your answer to two questions.”

“Oh yeah,” Sam asked.  “What questions would those be?”

“Do you miss flying?  And are you willing to let your life get a little bit crazier?”

 

* * *

  

When Sam hung up the phone twenty minutes later, he couldn’t fight the grin splitting his face.  This was insane.  It was totally and completely insane, and it would absolutely end up coming back to bite him in the ass.

And, God help him, he couldn’t wait to get started. 

He needed to start packing.

Then again, he’d been raised never to show up empty handed.  So, before packing, maybe a call to his mom and a plea for her cookie recipe.


End file.
